Board of Management
John Kerr - CEO & Director
About John Kerr
John Kerr, formerly CEO of the Edexcel Foundation, the UK largest awarding body, specializes in providing educational consultancy across a wide range of Higher Education, Technical Training and Schools.
He believes there is a need for a new qualification body that can support and recognize leaner achievements and skills and prepare them for international careers and/or higher education.
John trained as a lawyer and has held legal positions with the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Authority. After leaving Edexcel John was a director of the Edge Foundation and commissioned three city academies and the Edge Hotel School.
John is currently a strategy consultant in education theory and practice for a number of government and private education bodies both within the UK and internationally, and holds a number of directorships in private education companies specializing in utilizing technology in education.
Professor Emeritus Melvyn Lees - Director
About Mel Lees
Mel is a former Pro Vice-Chancellor at Birmingham City University and was responsible for the academic leadership of the computing, engineering and built environment subjects. For the University, He led on the development of apprenticeships and also international partnerships. In September 2018, Mel retired from the University and was awarded Emeritus Professor status in recognition for his outstanding contribution to the work of the institution.
Mel has served on numerous national and international committees associated with higher education and industry engagement – most notably those associated with the sector skills council – ConstructionSkills and the Construction Industry Council.
In recent years, Mel has worked extensively in the field of internationalising higher education. He has delivered a number of keynote addresses on the subject including as part of the annual International Conference of the Associated Schools of Construction in the United States and as a regular feature of the annual conference of construction managers in Quebec, Canada (CEGQ). He has visited China, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Nepal, United Arab Emirates and Singapore to establish collaborations with academic institutions and has extensive experience of developing and approving academic partnerships.
Qualifications
BSc (Hons), Dip Arb, PhD, FRICS, FHEA
John Mountford - Chief Advisor
About John Mountford
John joins UK Awards is an international skills sector expert with extensive experience of contributing to international development projects and programmes. He has contributed to TVET sector capacity building programmes in Nepal, Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda, India and Sudan. This has included working as a Team Leader for the EU funded, British Council managed, Dakchyata TVET practical partnership project in Nepal. He has experience in proving advisory and policy input for UK and overseas government TVET sector strategic initiatives. His recent experience includes the development of a 10-year plan sector plan developed by the Government of Nepal.
He has a professional background in the UK’s Further Education College (TVET) sector including working as the International Director for England’s national college agency, the Association of Colleges. He has also held senior roles in the UK’s Sector Skills Council sector and awarding bodies sectors. This experience has given him an excellent insight and expertise into skills development priorities from both demand and supply side perspectives.